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Sailfish (Primary Title)

James Prosek, American, born 1975 (Artist)

2005
American
Paintings
Works On Paper
watercolor, colored pencil and graphite on paper
Modern and Contemporary Art
Sheet: 60 × 131 in. (152.4 × 332.74 cm)
Framed: 61 3/4 × 135 in. (156.85 × 342.9 cm)
2009.10
Not on view

"With all that we know now, imagination is becoming extinct. I am trying to forget. I am pretending to be a naturalist from a time past." —James Prosek

Widely known for more than half a dozen books he wrote and illustrated on trout, eels, and other fish and wildlife, Prosek has more recently emerged as an adventurous contemporary artist. One body of work, which features hybrid creatures, combines skillful renderings from nature with a strong dose of fantasy. This hybridity recalls thefantastical creatures made some five hundred years ago by Northern European artists who sought to comprehend the pelts, skins, and feathers brought back by world voyagers along with descriptions and sketches. This monumental work shows a glistening Pacific sailfish that Prosek caught in Mexico. The fish, which is painted life size, sports the wing of a parrot seamlessly substituted for its dorsal fin, while swirling Maori-like tattoos decorate its tail and pelvic fins.

Signed in graphite lower right: "Sailfish/ James Prosek February 2005 Zihuantanejo, Mexico"
Inscribed in graphite along lower edge: "a bug in the studio" [to right of small watercolor sketch of an insect], "I had to wrap my arms around myself to keep from shaking", "She lived in an area outside of town where many people did not have running water", "That night, when I woke, I noticed a crack of light under the bathroom door", "Your father would have bought a new engine by now.", "She asked me to take my shirt off and/ touch my toes.", "CAN you write upside down?", "Maybe he envied her bright future. The road was empty, like so many roads we had driven in my life.", "and I'd never set foot in a church.", "At the edges of reason, there are creatures that defy the corners (?) of species./ The seahorse baffles, the ___[illegible] - bolt-fish.", "The sail is a sail, like a blowing wing and painting it, drawing it..."[partially erased; illegible], "Tell her I hope her new life and her family ___(?)", "The flying fish glides almost flies. And once I saw a sailfish jump and its dorsal fin like a wing, it looked as though it might keep going and glide to the eternal", "when the wind blew, the swamp did seem to tremble...", "they just naturally looked like that!", "He hired gardeners to create an azalea garden", "I'm asking you to be critical", "She belonged to the sky, and the sky belonged to her.", "The next day was the same. The next day was the same. The next day was the same. The next day was the same. The next day was the same.", "What immortal hand or eye could frame this fearful symmetry.", "The notion of creation", "I saw her eyes were glazed as she stared at the bright blueness of the sky.", "For scale" [beneath watercolor and graphite sketch of a paintbrush], and "Because if it's still there, I want to throw it away./ You're going to show me where you found the trap."
Purchased with funds contributed by Mary and Donald Shockey, Jr., Edith Ferber, and The Vilcek Foundation, and the Kathleen Boone Samuels Memorial Fund
© James Prosek

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